


Tell a Story

by AyraBelle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Missing Moments, Season 2 spoilers, space cow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 05:39:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9705638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyraBelle/pseuds/AyraBelle
Summary: A story has five simple parts - the Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Denouement.But often a story is so much more than simply the sum of its parts.





	

** Exposition **

_“Once upon a time–” The collective groan from his friends just made Shiro grin._

_“Shiro, we know all of your stories,” Keith complained. “Tell us a new one.”_

_Maybe he could try that. Shiro thought a moment before starting over. “Once upon a time…”_

-

The team was sprawled across various couches after facing the castle’s training gladiator the first time. Everyone was quiet, still upset about their failure. Shiro wished he could say something to lift their spirits, but he didn’t know what to say when even he felt bad.

“Shiro.” A voice broke the quiet spell. Shiro was surprised to see Keith speaking. “Would you tell us a story?”

He had a small grin, and Shiro couldn’t help but grin back. He hadn’t been sure if Keith remembered that from their time together at the Garrison. He wasn’t entirely sure he was up for it, but then Pidge and Lance both sat forward and he thought this might be just the thing to lighten the mood.

“Well, let’s see,” he replied, leaning back in his seat. “Did I ever tell you about the food fight that I started at the Garrison?”

The range of reactions was remarkable. Keith just grinned, evidently he remembered Shiro’s reputation as well. Lance’s jaw dropped in awe, Hunk looked shocked, and Pidge just furrowed his brow in confusion.

“I’m surprised my brother never mentioned that.”

“He doesn’t like the story because he lost,” Shiro explained. “Once upon a time, I was eating lunch with Matt Holt at the Garrison. It all started with James, one of my classmates. He wouldn’t leave Matt or me alone – and now he wasn’t letting us eat either. I was hungry and tired of him so I just grabbed a handful of food and threw it at his face.

“Well, James wasn’t having any of that. He tried to throw some back at my face, but I dodged that and it hit Matt instead.”

He had a riveted audience now. Coran had come in to call them to dinner, but was standing and listening instead.

“Rather than retaliate at James, Matt tried to get me back but hit Brit. And, well, war ensued. I recruited a few friends and we formed an alliance. There were so many cadets in there that we had to work as a team – the individuals were the first to go down. We were all so caught up in the food war that we didn’t notice Iverson standing in the doorway.”

There was a collective gasp at that one – even Coran looked shocked though there was no way he had the slightest idea who Iverson was.

“He was covered in food by the time anyone realized he was standing there. That was the quickest I’ve ever heard a room go silent. I was under a table, so when James tried to rat me out to Iverson I was nowhere to be seen. He ended up with detention for a week, while Matt and I only got a day.”

“I can’t believe no one tells that story anymore,” Lance gushed. “That’s awesome!”

“Why do you think the lunch breaks are so weird?” Hunk reasoned. “They must have implemented new rules after that.”

Shiro hadn’t known about the new rules, but they worked to his benefit. “Must have,” he agreed with a nod.

As Lance, Pidge, and Hunk continued talking about the story, Keith leaned over. “I assume you’re out of practice, but that one wasn’t bad for an unexpected request,” he said sotto voce, with a smirk.

None of them noticed the seventh member of their team listening just outside the door. Allura had been ready to admonish the Paladins for lounging about when they could be training, but their faces had stopped her. They weren’t bickering, and they looked like they had all forgotten their despair at the failed gladiator session. She stopped Coran as he was leaving the room.

“Coran, I have an idea for some training to do at dinner.”

-

As the Paladins walked back to their rooms to wash off the food goo, Lance and Hunk led the way as Keith and Pidge trailed behind. They could hear the other two talking about Shiro’s story and comparing it to their own recent food fight.

Pidge huffed. “I still can’t believe that Matt never told me about that.”

Keith snorted. “That’s because it never happened.” When Pidge looked at him in surprise, Keith elaborated. “Shiro only ever told three stories for the longest time. Eventually, we got bored of those three and told him to start making stories up for us. So that’s what he started doing – he would just make up these wild stories all the time.”

Pidge nodded in appreciation. “That was a good one, then.” He paused a moment to listen to Lance and a wicked smirk came over his face. “Next time let’s help him out. I bet if we held we can make Lance believe anything Shiro comes up with.”

Keith smirked back. “It’s a plan.”

* * *

** Rising Action **

Shiro started telling stories again after that. Occasionally he would spin a tale and get in too deep only to have Keith or Pidge come to his rescue. He assumed that Keith had let her in on the secret, and appreciated their help. The requests became more common after they were all reunited from getting thrown across the galaxy via corrupted wormhole. They all appreciated the time together even more, after that.

After their adventure in wormhole-ing and holding scaultrite lenses just the right way, Shiro helped them all relax by weaving a fascinating tale about a kid he “knew” in his first year of Robotics club in school. The kid apparently built a plane and then a robot to fly the plane, and Lance had been absolutely hooked. He wasn’t sure how Lance hadn’t figured out the truth – Hunk had figured it out fairly quickly so Lance was the only paladin left – but Shiro wasn’t going to be the one to tell Lance. Let him be a kid for a little longer and believe in fantastical things. Their lives were stressful enough.

Shiro hadn’t known that Allura had even been listening, so when she walked with him after the story he wasn’t sure what she needed.

“Did you really build a robotic human just to fly a plane?” she asked, eyes wide.

Shiro couldn’t help it – he laughed. “No, Princess. I just made that story up.”

Allura nodded. “That makes sense – it didn’t sound like any of your other exploits.”

Shiro wasn’t laughing anymore. “What other exploits? Do you mean the other stories I’ve been telling?”

At her nod, Shiro grabbed her hand to pull her to a stop. “Princess, all of my grand stories have been made up. I haven’t done any of that.”

Allura’s face betrayed her shock. “But, you were so knowledgeable about them! And often the other Paladins would join in.”

Shiro shook his head. “They know that I’m making it up and have joined in the game.”

“Oh, so it’s a game? Wonderful!” Allura’s face lit up and she clapped her hands together. “Will you teach me to play?”

Shiro smiled back. “There’s not much to teach, you just tell a story. Sometimes I put meaning behind my stories,” he explained. “Do you remember my food fight story? I made sure to talk about how it was important to work as a team, something we were struggling with.”

Ready for her try, Allura nodded to show that she was paying attention. “Well, when I was younger I–”

“Nope,” Shiro cut her off. “You have to start with the phrase ‘once upon a time’.”

“Really?” Allura looked skeptical, but he only nodded so she started over. “Then, once upon a time…”

-

Allura was annoyed when everyone else got to go exploring and shopping but she was stuck on the ship. The mice’s offer of dinner and a show was a welcome distraction from feeling like she had been left behind. They only had the one show, though, so they were soon in need of other ideas.

“Oh, I know a game that we could play!” She clapped her hands, excited to be able to contribute. “When I was– oh! I mean, once upon a time I was a younger girl and my father took me to visit the Lake Region of Altea. Well, I had only just learned how to swim so I was still nervous around the water. My father was meeting with the local boat men and I was walking near the boats when one of the sails fell and it startled me so much that I fell into the water!”

The mice squeaked and Allura smiled down at them, absentmindedly playing with her hair as she spoke. “Thankfully, there was a Flonkerton right there so it let me ride on its back and when I got close enough my father could pluck me right back out of the water.”

The mice were all squeaking and Allura laughed. “Do you want to know the best part of that story? It was all made up! Isn’t this a fun game?” The mice squeaked in agreement and moved to her shoulders to join her in playing with her hair.

“I’ll go again. Once upon a time…”

Shiro moved away from the control room with a smile. He was going to tell her what he discovered with his Lion, but then he heard her telling the story and got distracted. She was enjoying herself, and he was glad that he could contribute to that happiness in whatever small way he did contribute. As he wandered on his own, he passed the teladuv and saw the cracked lenses on the floor. One in particular caught his eye and he stooped to pick it up. It was cracked in such a way that it shimmered in the light. He thought back to earlier in the day and her wish – _“But I’d love something sparkly!”_ – and on an impulse he pocketed the lens.

* * *

** Climax **

Story Time grew less and less frequent as their final battle with Zarkon grew nearer. They were all on Olkarion and reminiscing. The conversation had died down and comfortable silence reigned.

Shiro began to think about telling them all to get some sleep when Hunk spoke up. “Shiro? D’you think you’re up to tell us a story?”

The others perked up at that suggestion, so he obliged. “Once upon a time, I was on my school’s football team. We were pretty good, too, and one year we even made it to the finals for our state.”

“Oh yeah. You played against the school that I was going to at the time,” Keith supplied with a conspiratorial smirk.

Shiro nodded. “The team was a bunch of snobs, and they’d been talking smack about how they were going to beat us into the ground. And we let that get into our heads. The first half was ugly, very ugly.

“At halftime our coach gathered us all together and told us to forget who we were playing, forget where we were, and just remember why we played in the first place. We bonded together and in the second half we came back to win.”

Lance let out a whoop and everyone was smiling broadly.

“Time to sleep!” Coran announced when he could tell that Shiro’s story was done. “I’m going to make sure that you’re all up at the second varga past the rise of the star!”

No one was entirely sure what that meant, but they dispersed anyways. Hunk entered his room and greeted Kaltenecker (Hunk had started calling him Kal) who mooed back at him.  They hadn’t been sure what to do with the cow after they fled from the mall on his back, but Hunk liked to talk to it so he adopted it and it kept him company in his room.

“Shiro is such a good storyteller,” Hunk observed to Kal. “Even though I know he’s spinning tales, he almost has me convinced.” Crawling into bed, Hunk had a thought. “Hey, I want to try – Kal, mind if I tell you a story?”

The cow mooed again, which Hunk took for a yes. He laid back on his bed and looked up at the ceiling. “Once upon a time…”

-

The plan fell apart quickly, even by their standards. Lance did his best to remember Shiro’s story and not let the Galra get into his head, but they did have their whole fleet and then Zarkon appeared with his own robotic armor.

And he had just shot the castle.

“Allura!” Shiro’s scream still reverberated in Lance’s ears as the castle was dead in space and neither Allura nor Coran could be heard. He listened desperately, tears welling in his eyes as he wished for just a word, a murmur.

Shiro’s voice came back on the comm – rallying them together and Lance felt more connected with the team than ever before. Even though they still managed to get torn apart.

But then Shiro was flying again – and the Black Lion had wings! Lance wasn’t sure what was going on, but Shiro’s voice came back in their ears. “I’ve got Zarkon’s bayard!”

“You mean you’ve got _your_ bayard,” Keith corrected, and Lance beamed. It was time to finish off Zarkon!

Even that, though, didn’t go smoothly. Coran came back on the speakers (along with Slav…) but Zarkon’s ship regained power. They formed a flaming sword, which was awesome, but they got separated again and Shiro wasn’t moving. They barely made it into their hangars and into a wormhole before the Galra fighters could get them after being powered back up.

Lance was frightened – he hadn’t heard Shiro’s voice since they stabbed Zarkon. He wasn’t even responding to Keith – and Lance could tell that absolutely terrified Keith to his core.

Once Blue landed, Lance barely thanked her before he was sprinting to towards the Black Lion. It was silent, and Lance could feel his dread solidify in his gut with each step. They made it to the cockpit, and it was empty.

Shiro was gone.

* * *

  **Falling Action **

Gone. Again.

Keith punched the pilot chair. How could he be gone again so soon after he’d found him?

“He’ll – he’ll be fine, right?” Lance was the first to speak, sounding small. “I mean, after what he went through on his first mission – and that time with the comet – and that time–”

Something inside Keith snapped. “Those never happened! Those stories were all fake! Shiro just made them up!” And with that he stormed off to the training deck because he needed to _fight something_ , ignoring the broken look on Lance’s face.

After Keith left, the others drifted apart as well. Coran and Allura left to check different parts of the castle’s systems, Lance simply wandered. Hunk retreated to his room, Pidge made her way to her hangar and Green.

She had planned on losing herself in an experiment, but she couldn’t even concentrate on that. Her eyes fell to the picture of her father and brother, and suddenly everything got blurry. Now Shiro was gone too.

She was startled when Green laid her head down close to Pidge. Pidge moved to lean against the metal Lion, taking comfort in her presence.

“Green, can–” she started, her voice cracking. “Can I tell you a story?”

-

Lance was still wandering aimlessly when he heard grunts and soft swears and realized that he was near the training deck. Listless mood shifting suddenly to anger, he went in to confront Keith. Keith, who was positively dripping in sweat and looking exhausted but simply said “Restart training sequence” after he beat the gladiator.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Lance burst, storming into the arena as Keith defeated the round.

“What does it look like?” Keith snapped, rounding on Lance and looking like he might start fighting Lance next rather than the gladiator.

“Ignoring the problem, that’s what it looks like,” Lance yelled.

“I’m not ignoring it!” Keith retaliated, waving his bayard-sword in the air.

“Oh, really?” Lance scoffed. “Well, let me tell you a story. When we first–”

“Once upon a time,” Keith interjected, all the fight draining out of him as he slumped to the ground. Lance stuttered to a stop, looking down at Keith in confusion. “That’s how you’re supposed to start it – with ‘once upon a time’,” Keith continued, hanging his head and voice cracking.

Lance looked closer at Keith, surprised. Maybe he wasn’t ignoring it after all. Seeing Keith drained also sapped all of Lance’s anger and he sat as well.

“You’re right. Once upon a time, I hated your guts. You still annoy me, but you’ve become a friend. And I’m not going to let you blame yourself for this one.” He flopped onto his back and closed his eyes.

Keith’s mouth twitched into a small smile. “That was a terrible story – it was so short.”

“Well, I’m not Shiro.” Lance’s eyes flew open, regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth.

Thankfully Keith didn’t get angry at Lance – his mouth was set in a thin, determined line. “No, so we’re gonna have to find him.” He turned to face Lance, one corner of his mouth quirking back upwards. “Wanna fight with me a bit, sharpshooter?”

Lance grinned back, reaching for his bayard. Keith wasn’t running from the problem; this was his way of dealing with it. And if he wanted to have Lance there, then Lance was going to join in.

He wouldn’t mind shooting up the gladiator, either.

* * *

  **Denouement **

Hunk could only talk to Kal for so long. But none of the others were in their rooms, so he went to the kitchen to make some snacks. As he walked past the hangars he could hear Pidge talking. He didn’t want to be alone, so he called her name to announce his presence.

“Come in,” she called him in. He walked in to see her leaning against her lion. “Hey, Hunk.” She smiled a small smile, and they both pretended that they can’t see the tear tracks on the other’s face.

“Mind if I join you?”

“Only if you promise to let me snuggle with you.”

They both knew that was going to happen anyways, so he smiled back and sat next to her, easily slipping his arms around her when she turned to do the same to him.

-

Allura found herself drawn to Shiro’s room. She couldn’t explain why she was there, but when she entered the room was tidy. She sat on the bed, but quickly rose again when something caught her eye. On the table was one of the cracked wormhole generator lenses, only it had been polished and there was a note.

_Something sparkly, just for you._

There was no indication of who it was for or who it was from, but Allura understood. She had wanted something sparkly from the mall, so Shiro had polished up something sparkly for her from her own castle. She felt herself smile fondly as she picked up the lens, and had an idea.

-

Coran knew that he didn’t need to do any of the diagnostic tests that he was running, but he couldn’t leave the room and face the castle again knowing that one of their family was gone. After King Alfor had told him to protect Allura, he had also directed Coran to look after the next batch of Paladins. And so he had – the five new Paladins becoming like family to him.

You didn’t just get over losing a member of your family.

He was about to run yet another set of unnecessary tests when Allura herself appeared in the doorway.

“Coran, would you help me gather the Paladins?” she asked, not commenting on the fact that she had already run the same tests that he was working on.

“Of course, Princess,” he agreed, glad to have something else to occupy his mind. He had a good idea of where to find Pidge, so he made his way to the hangar while Allura assumed Keith would be in the training deck and moved in that direction. 

Hunk was with Pidge, and Coran hated to interrupt their talking and bonding but if the princess wanted them all together then they were going to all be together.

“Number Five!” he called out, pretending not to notice that Hunk was there and how they both paused to wipe their eyes before greeting him. “Ah, Hunk, you’re here too. Good. Princess Allura wants us all together – come with me.”

-

To Allura’s surprise, Keith wasn’t alone when she got to the training deck. Lance was there with him, and they weren’t fighting each other. They were fighting together, and very well too. She called them over to the doorway once their round was over.

“Keith, Lance, would you both come with me? I want everyone together.”

They both agreed, and soon enough the team was gathered in the lounge. Allura paused a moment in the doorway and looked around at the others. Keith and Lance had collapsed in the same couch, looking exhausted but not angry anymore. Hunk and Pidge, fading tear marks on their cheeks, had pulled Coran into an engineering discussion. No one was dwelling, and though they weren’t as boisterous as they might have been before they weren’t sullen either. She could work with that.

As she moved to sit down, Pidge looked over with a sly smile. “Princess, would you tell us a story?”

The rest of the team fell quiet and Allura smiled in return. They were all still hurting from the loss of Shiro, but they would find him. For now, maybe, she could help them all forget their troubles.

“Once upon a time…”

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Voltron Secret Valentine's Day Exchange. It's a present for kitty-marionette.tumblr.com
> 
> kitty-marionette, I hope you like your present!
> 
> I has a [tumblr](http://ayrabelle.tumblr.com/).


End file.
